"Aaron is a great guy and a great friend of mine and a great teammate," Branch told The Herald. "I love him to death, and it was shocking to hear his name involved in this situation. I truly hope and pray he doesn’t have any dealings with it."

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail in the death of Odin Lloyd. Two other men are also in custody. Prosecutors say the three were in a car with Lloyd shortly before his death.

Another former teammate, offensive lineman Matt Light, had sharp criticism for Hernandez.

"I never talk about other guys, but I will say I have never embraced — never believed in — anything Aaron Hernandez stood for," Light told the Dayton Daily News.

Prosecutors said an ammunition clip found in Hernandez's Hummer matched the caliber of casings found at the scene of Lloyd's killing.

In an interview with the newspaper, Branch, who played two seasons with Hernandez, didn't have anything negative to say.

"That’s my guy, man," Branch said of Hernandez. "That's my guy. It really shocked me. He was a great kid. Overall, I hope the best that he isn’t involved with it and I hope he gets his name cleared, but most importantly I send my prayers and condolences out to the Lloyd family."

Branch said there was nothing in his association with Hernandez on or off the field that led him to believe he was capable of murder.

"Nobody deserves to walk, whoever the person is that did it," Branch said. "Most of all what we as Americans need to understand is that is somebody’s child that was a victim. That’s somebody’s dad, and my prayers and thoughts go out to his family and hope that they bring whoever did this to their child to justice, regardless of who it is."

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